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Re: Progress with a Telinga and some questions

Subject: Re: Progress with a Telinga and some questions
From: "umashankar" umashanks
Date: Sun Dec 17, 2006 5:22 pm ((PST))
wave files have (as do other files like aiff) headers which can carry vario=
us kinds of data in what are called chunks. some of these chunks carry engi=
neering metadata, which tell the computer, for instance, whether a particul=
ar file is audio, and what is the bit rate, sampling depth, etc. the comput=
er needs this to know how to play the file.

but there are other chunks which are for users. one chunk used by many with=
out knowing even is when you put markers.with most programs  they are saved=
 within the wave file (unless you specificy that they be saved as separate =
files.

most audio editor programs also allow you to save a wide variety of informa=
tion, including broadcast wave information (a broadcast wave file is also a=
 wave file, and usually does not even have a .bwf extension). in Adobe Audi=
tion for instance, you call this up by pressing ^C.

i have found a program called Info Edit (provided free by a company called =
Broadcast Software) which allows you to edit and sort the header informatio=
n without even opening the wave files - a huge time saving when you are wor=
king with multigigabyte files. but of course with windows vista (and probab=
ly the newer versions of mac os) you can get at this information, including=
 the ability to organise and edit the information in windows explorer, so y=
ou may not need addtional software. just right click on the file name and g=
o to properties.

one reason this is happening is because the header chunks can actually cont=
ain xml data, which can be integrated with data base management software.

umashankar


----- Original Message ----
From: Dan Dugan <>
To: 
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2006 1:48:47 AM
Subject: Re: [Nature Recordists] Progress with a Telinga and some questions


Chris Hails, thanks for the sample recordings. You wrote,

>3. How can I electronically "annotate" files for cataloguing
>purposes ? When I using  RavenLite I save files in =96 aif. format and
>a right click takes me to "file properties" where empty fields could
>be filled in to describe location, recording quality, weather etc
>etc =96 all those helpful descriptors that stayed with the file and
>could be used in an electronic cataloguing system.  The .wav format
>does not allow this. What is the answer =96 save everything as .aif ?
>Is that something I may regret in future ? (If I stick
>with "Spectrogram" it will only work with .wav files)  Or is there a
>good system I am not aware of for wav files ?

You have touched on a topic that is at the
leading edge of the development of field
recording technique. It's called "metadata."
Everybody realizes that they're going to have
oceans of files and they've got to carry at least
enough information to be able to find them and
hopefully full documentation.

I believe that the .wav file can carry an
unlimited amount of metadata. Buzzwords are
".bwv", the professional file format, and "iXML",
according to Sound Devices "the metadata language
gaining popularity with post production software,
including ProTools 7.2."

I'm eager to learn about these things and I hope someone here can teach.

-Dan Dugan


"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
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